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險角 (2001)
Sharp Guns


Reviewed by: Chinoco
Date: 04/12/2006
Summary: Better than expected

Ok, I purchased this movie because I think Anya's hot. That is really the only reason! Anyway, this movie turned out to be a lot better that I had expected.

It plays like a comic book, and fortunately I love comic books. Alex Fong is hired to rescue a triad member’s daughter. To go about this he decides to recruit a team full of unique talents: A sharp-shooter, an interrogator, and a skilled driver.

The movie has everything you could ask for in an action movie. Double-crosses, chases, plot twists, shootouts and Anya looking amazing- it's all here. If you’re into HK action cinema that's exciting and fun to watch, give it a shot.

I'm not sure what was up with the Anya scene during the end credits. Dream sequence? Alternate reality? Whatever it was I made sure I watched it over again to try and figure it out! ;)

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: mrblue
Date: 09/17/2005

There seems to be a trend in Hong Kong back towards the "girls-with-guns" genre that was so popular in the early 1990's, with several high-profile movies like Martial Angels featuring ass-kicking females. While Sharp Guns doesn't totally capture the feel of those films, it is a step in the right direction for fans of the genre. The plot is pretty simple here: Alex Fong is hired by a crime lord to rescue his daughter from a rival boss. However, the job turns out to be a double-cross, and so Fong and his team of "sharp guns" set out to turn the tables on the gangsters, which of course results in all sorts of fun bloodshed and mayhem.

Even though Alex Fong (one of my favorite HK actors) is the de facto star of this movie, it is really Anya (one of the "sharp guns") who is the film's centerpiece. Like Chingmy Yau in Naked Killer and Almen Wong in Her Name is Cat, Anya's performance masterfully combines both sex and violence into a mesmerizing role and she steals the show every time she is on screen (which is thankfully a lot). Without her character and performance, Sharp Guns would be your fairly typical Triad revenge movie. The plot is by the numbers, and the action is done well, but it's nothing special.

This restrained (at least for HK movies) approach is suprising coming from Billy Tang, the director nicknamed "Bloody Billy" for his movies like Dr. Lamb. I wish Tang would have used more of the "punch" we have come to expect from his films (especially during the ending, which is much too upbeat for one of his movies) to make it stand out a bit more from the pack of similarly-themed films. At rate, Sharp Guns is a solid action movie that's worth a look, especially if you're into the femme fatales.

[review from www.hkfilm.net]


Reviewed by: S.A. Winters
Date: 11/21/2002
Summary: OK stuff pulled off by the charm of its stars

Danton and Wurms did all the hard work by summing up the story, so I'll just throw in my observations. Billy Tang should get on his knee's and thank Alex Fong and Ken Chang because their charm carried this movie. Anya has the personality of driftwood and even though she is hot to look at her outfit got a bit tiresome after awhile. The twists were great and unexpected.
The movie WAS enjoyable but certainly nothing to go on a mad hunt for. 5.00 dvd catch would be good. I nabbed it for 3.00. BTW that end credit sequence was the biggest tease ever. What a rip off!


Reviewed by: Wurms
Date: 07/24/2002
Summary: A must see

This is a clever movie about a triad boss hiring his old friend and number one hitman Tricky On (Alex Fong) to find and return his daughter. Tricky On gets himself a small crew; a sharpshooter, a getaway driver, and a mean and gorgeous hand-to-hand expert played by the beautiful Anya, and so begins the search for the daughter.

Well, things aren't as straight forward as this seems. There's some clever action scenes and some very nice twists and turns throughout the movie.

Very nicely done movie. Its a good change of pace from all the brainless action movies that have come out recently (but I like those just as well :)).

Very highly recommended.

Rating: 4/5

NOTE: Watch the credits :) Some good stuff with Anya in a...well...I don't want to spoil it.

Yes I know I am evil, MUAHAHAHAHA!!!

Reviewer Score: 8

Reviewed by: crazytigerfong
Date: 03/11/2002
Summary: I would give it a 4/5

Sharp Guns was different from what I expected. With a name like Sharp Guns, I thought it would be a lot like Hard-Boiled.
And at first I was disappointed, but as I started to accept there would be no blazing gun fights, I started to really appreciate the humor and the cleverness of the plot. Alex Fong is smooth as ever as Tricky On, and he really forms close relationships with the rest of his crew. And it is this camarderie, this family like atmosphere that really makes Sharp Guns an enjoyable watch. It is good fun.


Reviewed by: Inner Strength
Date: 02/07/2002
Summary: Mhe?

Mhe? Mhat Ye? Well, it's got a budget of about HK$1000 I reckon, which alone makes it feel like a camcorder movie.

Well, saying that, I found it more interesting than a whole bunch of movies I saw last year. It's a crime/action movie, with limited story and budget. There is a lot of messy scenes that could have been left out, and in all honesty, if all the good parts were shown only this would only last about 25 minutes. Still, it's worth seeing if you get the chance, but I wouldn't pay to see it.

It's no 'Peony Pavilion' but to me it is better than the likes of 'Shaolin Soccer' (but then again, I hated that).

So is it good? M'Hai-gie

Rating: 2/5


Reviewed by: MrBooth
Date: 02/07/2002
Summary: Not a 'quality' movie, but not painful to watch

Cheap & cheesy b-movie about... a kidnapping, and some stuff. Daft, but mostly harmless.


Reviewed by: danton
Date: 01/09/2002

I ignored this movie when the DVD was released a couple of months ago, because I'm not a big fan of Billy Tang's work, but then I saw more and more positive reviews appearing, so I decided to check it out and I'm glad I did!

This is a low-budget but very stylish caper film made worthwhile by a strong cast and a good script. Shot in Macau, it's about the daughter of a triad boss who gets abducted at the beginning of the film. In order to save her, the triad boss calls in a very suave, resourceful guy called Tricky On (Alex Fong) to save her. Tricky On assembles a team of colourful characters (a sharpshooter with a phenomenal nose who can tell what gun a person has used by the lingering smell of gunpowder days later, and a very very badass female killer with an affinity for sharp objects) and together they soon start creating havoc. The plot moves very briskly, and Billy Tang keeps things interesting by throwing in a couple of plot twists that are mostly unexpected and add nicely to the suspense. The characters are cartoonish (especially Rain, the female killer), but in a good way - no annoying low-brow humour to spoil the mood, but plenty of ultra-stylish elements designed to keep these characters interesting, reminiscent of cult classics like Naked Killer. Amzing how good they manage to make this movie look with little or no budget...

The action scenes are well choreographed (car chases, gun battles) and never so over the top that they become unbelievable. Some people have compared this movie to films like Downtown Torpedoes and Mission Impossible. Well, Sharp Guns is similar in that it is centered around a crew who are forced to rely on their wits to get out of a sticky situation, and the interplay between them plays off the same type of dynamics. But it has none of the obsession with gadgets that marred those other movies, and none of the completely overblown action setpieces that disrupted the flow of the story.

BTW, Moses Chan has a small role in the film - whatever happened to his movie career?

The DVD is bare-bones, but has a very clean picture with vivid colours, optional subtitles and a good DD 2.0 soundmix. It's a B-movie, so don't expect too much, but I still think this is well worth checking out.


Reviewed by: Sydneyguy
Date: 01/06/2002
Summary: Pretty good actually!!

This b grade movie doesn't fall into the trap of most b grade hk movies, that is being absoultely hopeless!!

Instead you get a smart, well thought out movie, where the action is fast and people are actually using their brains in this movie. That is the most impressive part. Instead of going all guns blazing, they set up mini traps/games and gets out of situations very well.

I was very impressed with this movie. The best crime movie of 2001, better than "Full time Killer"

7/10